11

Mounting Tensions


A/N: This is the start of where I contemplate moving the rating up to M. There's gore in this chapter as well as in other parts of the story.


"Barry, the next time you say my mom has anything to do with a recent death, could you please tell me that she's fine, first," Cadence said, receiving a sheepish smile from Barry in response to her badgering. "Mom, stop!" She swatted her hand toward her mother, who hovered beside her, smoothing the flyaway hairs that had been knocked out of place with her sudden teleportation back in place.

Maya Nash lowered her hands. "I'm sorry! But you're at work, you need to look presentable. What could've made you look so unprepared so quickly?" She looked to Barry, who looked back at her with a smile, and matched it with one of her own. "Ohh. Nevermind."

"Mom." Cadence briefly closed her eyes, shaking her head as Barry blushed at the implication. "I was working on another case this morning."

"I thought you were having breakfast with Mallory?"

"That, too."

Cadence saw and ignored Barry's confused glance. It wasn't an important conversation to have, not compared to the bloody mess that was the elevator roped off in the lobby of the apartment complex. "What's going on? And what does this have to do with my mom as you scared me with this morning?"

"That's what we were just about to debrief on," Captain Singh said, walking over. He looked to Barry and pressed his lips together, holding his arms in front of him. "Mr. Allen! Only six months and twenty minutes late."

"Sorry Captain," Barry quickly apologized, moving to attention. He quickly stepped toward his boss, throwing a glance toward Joe, who stood aside, grimacing lightly. First day back and he was already late? Who thought that wasn't coming? "B-but thanks for the extended sabbatical," he added quickly. "It really helped."

"It better have been worth it," Captain Singh said, a warning tone coming to his voice. He turned to Joe and nodded. "So, what have we got?"

Joe motioned toward the elevator and the group walked toward it. Cadence grimaced, studying the elevator as they moved closer. She'd seen a lot of things while working as a Medical Examiner, not only that, but from having studied medicine for many years, there had been enough bodies that she'd done autopsies on, or watched her professors for practice. That was nothing compared to the carnage that laid out before them. Her upper lip curled, watching blood and chunks of gore continued to fall from the ceiling of the broken-down elevator.

"Not much to go off of," Joe said with a heavy sigh as they walked over. "The only witness was an elderly resident, and she's still pretty rattled."

Maya immediately quit walking, pressing a hand to her chest. "I beg your pardon!" She cried. "I'm not elderly. And I'm not a resident." She paused. "Not yet, anyway."

Joe gave her a funny looked. Cadence rolled her eyes, slapping her forehead. "I'm sorry, Ms. Nash, I was referring to…" he motioned to the side where and elderly woman stood, holding onto a small, white, yappy dog that eyed them with a glare.

"Oh." A flush came to Maya's cheeks. "Never mind, then."

"But you are a part of this, Ms. Nash. You were the last person to see the victim alive," Joe added. He addressed the group. "'I hope you all don't have weak stomachs."

Barry came to a stop, eyes widening as he got a good look at the elevator. "Whoa, he's everywhere," he blurted out, unable to stop the rapid fire connection of his brain to his mouth.

Joe nodded grimly, standing aside so everyone could get a good look at the grisly display. "Dropped him 100 stories."

"Did you ID the vic?" Captain Singh asked.

"Yeah, Kurt Williams," Joe said, regarding the notebook in his hands. "Worth billions."

"Hundreds of billions, actually," Maya spoke up. She hitched her purse up her shoulder, shaking her head. "He was a tech giant, imported a lot of the technology he's created into Metropolis and, singlehandedly, brought up the economy there. It doesn't surprise me he can afford a place like this. And in cash!"

Captain Singh ignored her, but not after a moment where he gave her a look that was almost indistinguishable. There weren't many changes in his facial expressions when he was at work, Cadence realized shortly after meeting him. He appeared annoyed as much as he was listening to you. He needed answers fast and made sure to get the information he needed with as long as he was to stand there talking to you.

"What do you think, Allen?" Captain Singh asked, clearing his throat lightly.

It took Barry a second to shake himself from what he was seeing to snap into CSI mode. Honestly, Cadence was a little worried as to how easily he would just back into work mode. He seemed to adjust coming back from the Speed Force easily, but there was a difference between taking the time between his return and the Flash's return, all with confidence and fanfare. If there was anyone who could rattle Barry, it was Captain Singh. And while Barry was excited to get back to work, he certainly wasn't excited to have to impress his boss all over again.

Who else would've taken their lie of Barry needing to be on a six-month sabbatical at face value from his fiancé rather than from the person leaving themselves? But Captain Singh had looked at her for a long moment, looked out the window of his office to the damage that the lightning storm had created—and was being repaired—and looked at her again. Looked at her in a way that made her nervous, there was a knowing flash in his eye, as if he, somehow, knew where it was Barry truly had gone.

Nevertheless, he approved it with a quiet, "Better be worth it," before motioning her to leave the apartment.

In that moment, Barry's face changed. Taking on a serious expression as he snapped on some gloves from his kit and knelt to closely examine the elevator. Cadence's nose wrinkled. Even from where she stood, the smell of blood was overpowering. She had a cast iron stomach after years of changing diapers and cleaning up projectile vomit—not just from when Brady was a baby, but from her hospital rounds as well—but knew it couldn't be said for everyone. Even for those who were used to the job had their breaking point.

Barry reached out a hand, curling his fingers around the side of the elevator frame to hold himself upright as he peered closer inside, careful not to contaminate the crime scene. He picked up a mini-flashlight from his kit and waved it around the cavern. He sighed under his breath. "You see the impacts on the ceiling?" He asked to the group, who all nodded silently. "And the repeated lateral stress fissures on the on the frame?" He motioned to the walls of the elevator. "He wasn't dropped, he was shaken to death."

Cadence grimaced at the truth. Shaken to death. A horrific way to go. When one was shaken to death, much like shaken baby syndrome, it was the brain that suffered the most damage and caused death. It was mostly seen in children and infants, known as Shaken Baby Syndrome, though also known as Abusive Head Trauma. The trauma created anything from brain swelling to seizures, visual impairment, cerebra palsy, and cognitive impairment. She'd seen more than enough young victims of Abusive Head Trauma, but had never seen someone legitimately shaken to death.

"The elevator malfunctioned to drop and rise between floors?" Captain Sing asked. Despite his composure, his face had turned ashen, and he swallowed hard. Turning away to cover his mouth as he did so. When he finally regained his composure, he forced himself to ask, "Is that even possible?"

Barry stood, snapping off his gloves. "Well…" he trailed off, looking toward Cadence. She raised her eyebrows and he nodded. Cadence nodded back, immediately understanding. It wasn't completely impossible, but…

"Excuse me, coming through!" Cisco's loud voice wafted through the spacious lobby of the apartment complex. Cadence smiled. Speak of the Devil, she thought. If anyone could figure out what was going on with a malfunctioning elevator, it was Cisco. She looked over her shoulder and watched as he pushed his way through the gathering crowd and toward the group. He picked up the lapel of his jacket and flashed it to the police officers that tried to stop him. "CCPS Tech Consultant. I've got the badge, its official!"

Captain Singh shook his head. "He does know that the badge is plastic, right?"

Cadence grinned and shook her head. "That means absolutely nothing to Cisco. He was just excited to get the badge in the first place."

"Oh, I know." Captain Singh wiggled a finger in his ear. "I'm still trying to regain hearing in this ear from his excited squealing."

Finally, Cisco reached the group and grinned at each person, quickly apologizing for his tardiness for the day. "The curls just weren't cooperating and—" his eyes widened, landing on the elevator in front of him. He brought up a hand, using it to cover his vision of the elevator. "Oh, good Lord! Why would you show me that?"

Joe glared at him, making Cisco immediately drop his hand and roll his shoulders back, adopting a look as if he'd seen it all before. "We think it's a weird technical glitch and you're our technical expert so…" He gestured toward the elevator once more, willing himself to look away.

"Yeah, yeah…I get it." Cisco reached out his hand, snapping his fingers towards Barry. "A mask, please." Barry dug around in his kit and pulled out a mask. Cisco quickly brought it up to cover his mouth. Cisco then paused and looked at his best friend, eyeing him in the silence. "'Hello! I can't touch this stuff, either!"

"Just get on with it, Mr. Ramon," Captain Singh warned.

Cisco snapped his fingers and pointed to Captain Singh before heading forward. He whipped what looked like a USB drive from his pocket and stuck it into a small portion of intact wall, being careful not to touch the bloody mess. Once it was in place, Cisco whipped out a tablet and swiped his fingers over it to pull up a program he looked through. A hum escaped his lips and he pointed to the screen before turning it around to show purple and gray code scrambling across the screen. "That shouldn't be there."

"I know there's a lot of things I don't understand about…" Joe waved his hand around. "Science and technology, but that's even more confusing than anything I've seen before."

"It's an encrypted code," Cisco explained. "The problem with this elevator that turned this guy into paste and seriously turned me off sriracha wasn't a glitch in the elevator's program. This is the work of a hacker."

"A hacker?" Maya repeated, nose wrinkling.

"Why would someone want to hack an elevator?" Cadence asked. "Let alone one in a place like this? There's so many rich people here that the litigation the place would be stuck in would be passed down to the occupants' great-great grandchildren."

"I'm not sure." Cisco pulled the thumb drive from the wall of the elevator and put it into an evidence bag, making a scene of not touching it directly and throwing the soiled gloves inside. "But there's an algorithm I can run that should decrypt this code in no time." He looked to Cadence, who nodded.

That code would be used in the Cortex. There was no program stronger that would decrypt it as easily. Even if Captain Singh wanted him to use the CCPDs' stuff, he would at least put the Cortex to good use in his own time.

"In the meantime, we'll ask around to see if anyone else saw or heard anything," Joe said. He looked to Captain Singh, nodded, and the two broke off toward the lobby of the apartment complex where the elderly woman with her dog had been ushered to, talking to some officers.

Cadence and Barry both turned to Maya at the same time. She frowned, looking over the carnage, the first time that Cadence could remember her mother ever being so unflappable. "'Was I really the last one to see him alive?" Her voice was soft.

"That's what we want to find out," Barry said gently. "What were you doing here?"

"I was shadowing a real estate agent I used to use in Metropolis," Maya explained. She hitched her purse higher up her shoulder. "I didn't know she was here in Central City but we got to talking and she said that I could come along with this listing to see how it was done—"

"—Get to the point, mom," Cadence interrupted.

Maya looked at her daughter, a little offended. "Well, I'm going to need a place to stay while I'm out here. I can't keep staying with you and Barry. Not when you're about to be a married couple." She held up a hand. "There are certain things a mother doesn't need to know about."

That's never stopped you before, Cadence thought with a wry smile.

Barry cleared his throat and brought the conversation topic back. "So what did you see?"

"Well, Kurt was on his phone the whole time he was being shown the place. And it's a nice place. Top floor penthouse. Anyone with that sort of cash you'd think would at least look at everything. But, no, he was on his phone, said he was going to pay in cash, and then went straight to the elevator. I talked to him a little bit as I waited for my friend."

"And what did you talk about?" Barry pressed.

"Nothing really." Maya shrugged. "I just mentioned that he might want to think about upgrading some of the fixtures and he said he wasn't worried about that, but that he was worried more about upgrading the security." Her eyes shifted back and forth over Cadence's and Barry's faces. "Is that weird? Is there something there that can help you?

Barry's eyebrows lowered. "That's not so weird. Anyone who moves into a new place would want to have their security systems changed; locks, alarm codes…it'd be too easy for the former resident to break in if things were the same. Or…" he bobbed his head. "He may be a bit paranoid over his safety."

"If he's worth that much money, it wouldn't surprise me," Cadence agreed. She motioned to her mother. "We knew a lot of people in Metropolis that practically turned their homes into fortresses because they were so afraid something would happen to them and their children."

"Should I be worried?" Maya asked, eyes growing wide. "For, I don't know, warning him last minute or something?"

"No, no, Maya, you shouldn't be worried," Barry reassured her. "You're not the target here, that's very clear. And…" he looked to Cadence before lowering his voice. "If this has anything to do with a metahuman and not anything else that Cisco can find out, it's nothing else that we can't handle."

"Okay, good." Almost immediately, Maya was back to her bubbly self. "I think I'm going to go and let you do your thing. But we should have dinner together, soon, alright."

"Alright." Cadence scratched behind her ear. "Bye, mom." She waited until her mother left before turning her attention to Barry, who laughed quietly. Cadence reached out and punched him on the arm. "It's not funny," she said.

"It's a little funny," Barry replied, still chuckling. "Okay, it's not that funny but…hey, she's trying." He brought up a hand to rest on her shoulder, gently rubbing his thumb over her clavicle. "And she might be able to help us with this case. There might be some sort of a clue with what she already knows about him."

"Yeah, maybe," Cadence agreed. She looked in the direction that her mother went, eyebrows coming together. "I don't like it, though. I want her to be safe."

"As long as we're looking out for her, she is safe," Barry reassured her. "You know we can be there in, like—"

"—a Flash?"

"I was going to say a second, but okay." Barry chuckled and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "If it helps, I'll ask Captain Singh if we can give her protective custody or something? Or maybe I'll run her back to Metropolis to make sure that she's as far away from all of this as possible."

Cadence smiled. "I'm sure she'd like that escort."

"Hey, I can't help it if she likes me better than you."

"Oh, really?" Cadence laughed, folding her arms over her chest and gave him a pointed look. "Who's getting married again?" Barry laughed along with her. "I mean, I always knew my mom had a thing for you but geez, should I hand over my engagement ring?"

"Not on your life." Barry picked up her left hand, gently turning it this way and that so that the diamond sparkled in the life. "I don't want you to take this off again." He lifted his gaze to her and Cadence grimaced, remember how much hurt filled his eyes the first time she'd said no to his proposal. It was all for good reasons, but it still haunted her how badly he had taken it. And how badly they'd argued over it later, when trapped in the Pipeline in the middle of a confrontation with Music Meister. Then his eyebrows came together. "But we missed you at breakfast this morning. Iris was disappointed that you and Brady didn't come."

"I told you, I had a case to work."

"But you had breakfast with…" Barry trailed off. Looked at her meaningfully.

Cadence lowered her gaze. She had a feeling the conversation was going to turn that way, no matter how much she avoided it. It was an elephant in the room, no matter who she was around. Him or Iris.

Shortly after Barry had returned, Iris had come up to her and asked, "How'd you do it?" Cadence had looked at her, eye narrowing in confusion. Iris sighed quietly, leaning against the computer bench and looked her in the eye. "How'd you keep faith of Barry coming back?"

And Cadence had shaken her head for a moment, smiled a little and said, "For the same reason you couldn't," she said. Iris's eyes had narrowed as well, but she didn't move from her position. "I mean…you couldn't keep yourself to think that Barry was coming back because he'd been in the Speed Force, someplace that the rest of us had never been to. We don't know what he saw or whether or not he was coming back. As far as we knew, he was dead. You prepared yourself for that, that he was dead. So, you couldn't keep much thought that he was coming back. I thought he was dead, too, but it was that thought that kept me moving forward to keep my hope that he was alive. But I couldn't live with myself if I couldn't do that."

Looking back on it, Cadence realized how much of Barry's absence had affected her. In more ways that she had realized, having him back now. Why did she keep it quiet about having breakfast with Mallory? Why did she not come out and say that she and Iris had had problems with their approaches to dealing with Barry's absence, especially in the last few days leading toward his return?

Why was she still acting like she was still in the Assassination Bureau?

"Mallory?" Cadence prompted. "Yeah, we had it planned for a while." She ran a hand through her hair. "But we had to cut it short, anyway, cause something came up." That was the truth. She had to cut it short once she got information that John and Karen were going to be at their house and she could confront them about what she'd recently found out about Frankie's abuse. "Anyway, I have to get back to CCPD, it looks like you've got your hands full here."

"Okay, but—" Barry tightened his grasp on her hand before she could leave. "Can we talk later? I just…I have the feeling that there's something wrong…"

Cadence nodded, agreeing to the talk and agreeing that something had gone wrong.

A lot had gone wrong.

He went into the Speed Force and nothing was the same, even when he came back.


Brady rested his chin in his hand, listening as his history teacher, Mr. McCormick finish up the lesson for the day. Finishing up a section of World War I and the economic fallout from the destruction as well as the restoration progress made in the years after. "We've had a good time talking about World War I, and now we're going to spend the rest of the year, up until Christmas, on World War II." Mr. McCormick folded his arms, pressing his hands into his armpits as he leaned against his deck. "So one of the questions I want you all to be able to answer are questions like, 'Why, after the costs of World War I, was it decided there'd be a second world war?' 'Why were the civilian costs of World War II so much higher than World War I?' 'Why were the allies victorious?'"

He looked around the room, taking in the silent stares of his students back to him. "What can you all tell me about World War II. Hitler, aside?"

Hands went into the air.

Mr. McCormick called on multiple students around the room and they explained everything they knew; "All the men went to ware and the women worked."

"Germany was the big bad of the war."

"Germany took over Europe."

"America helped them win the war."

"The Jews were targeted by Hitler."

Mr. McCormick pointed to Conner and said, "It wasn't just the Jews that were targeted by Hitler, contrary to popular belief," he explained. "There were a lot of different people who were targeted. The problem was, that Hitler wanted German to be an Aryan nation. And by that, I mean he wanted Germany to be perfect. He thought that the only ones who deserved to live in Germany were the ones who were blonde haired, blue eyed, and pale skin were those that had the most pure blood. He deemed Non-Aryans to be impure and even evil. He believed that Aryan superiority was being threatened, particularly by the Jews." He looked around the room. "So, considering today's political climate and is now know, socially, as what is a every day normal for us, I'm sure some of you are thinking about metahumans, am I right?"

Brady perked up. He nodded along with the others. History class was probably his most favorite class, when he didn't have to sit and have everything droned to him on a daily basis. If things were made to be more interesting, instead of having to regurgitate facts would at least keep him semi-interested. Anything that directly had to do with him kept him interested. He should've seen it coming, if he were honest.

Almost every class, every conversation in the halls had to do with metahumans and what was going to happen with them. It was unavoidable and now it was something that had to be spoke about. But how many times would they get into the same argument about it. Some of them were fine with metahumans being around. Others thought they were dangerous. Brady didn't know what was their honest response, more than it being things they were parroting form their parents.

Every now and then he found himself saying things that his mother would say, naïve about what truly was going on.

"So let me ask you this question," Mr. McCormick said slowly. His eyes swept over the classroom. "Would you do anything to make sure your friends, your family were safe? Anything at all? Even if that meant to cheat the system in ways you may not see fit?"

Brady nodded along with his classmates. Some, he saw, saw sat quietly. Even when he didn't have his powers, he did his best to get to his mom and save her when she was being attacked by the Assassination Bureau.

Brady held his hands over his mouth as he heard the commotion from the living room. As soon as the front door to the apartment had opened he woke up, wondering who it was, fear immediately causing him to hover by the doorway of the room. Hearing Barry's voice he relaxed, listening to their conversation, listening carefully just in case. It was when he heard the door to the apartment blast open once more, and then his mother's started voice and he did as he was always instructed to do.

Barricade himself under the bed.

As long as there were pillows and blankets under the bed that hid him from sight, making it appear that the person that slept in the bed consistently dropped their covers and were too lazy to pick them up, he'd be safe. So he sat there, eyes squeezed shut, listening to the sounds of conversation and raised voices. The voices were indistinguishable behind the blankets and pillows lined up around him.

Then everything was quiet.

Brady sucked in a breath and held it as he waited for someone to come to the room. For footsteps to creep closer; looking for him. But the apartment continued to stay quiet. Then he heard the footsteps move to the front of the apartment and he shifted back even further until his feet hit the wall behind him.

Were they coming for him next?

They had to have known he was there. Brady didn't dare move until he was sure whoever was in the apartment was gone. Five minutes going by until he let out his breath, then slowly crawled out from underneath the bed. One he was on his feet, he jammed on his shoes and hurried out to the front of the apartment. The front door was wide open and despite the mark in the wall where Barry's body had collided after Harley's mallet had hit him, there was no other indication there was anyone in the apartment.

"Mom?" Brady asked quietly, just to be sure.

He got no answer in reply and frowned, turning back to his quiet apartment. What was he going to do now? Get to STAR Labs and tell Dr. Wells. He went back to the bedroom and flipped the mattress up, taking away a few of the bills that rested on top of the pile, before lowering the mattress once more. He paused, eyebrows furrowing together as realization hit him. They had specifically been targeting Barry and his mother if they hadn't looked for the money.

Brady quickly turned on his heels and blasted out the front door, only coming to a stop when he noticed a tall, dark-skinned man standing at the end of the hallway, staring at him. It appeared that he was waiting for Brady as he slowly pushed himself off of the wall as soon as the young boy came into view. Now, Brady wasn't surprised to find someone strange standing near his apartment, it being in a rundown part of the city had lots of homeless people coming in for shelter when the nights got cold, and he had been warned that there were drug addicts around.

Not that he really understood what that meant.

"Hello?" He called warily.

"Hello," the man replied. Something in his voice was sinister, causing Brady to take a step back. The man smiled at Brady and pushed himself off of the wall. It was then that Brady saw what looked like tiger claws coming off of the man's hands. As soon as he spotted the claws, eyes dropping down to the end then back up to the man's face, Brady pressed his lips together in determination before turning on his heel and running down the hallway.

The man raced along behind him, footsteps echoing loudly through the hallway was they went. Reaching the door at the end of the hall, Brady pushed against the bar that ran horizontally along the face of the door and crouched through the small hole that was made. He screamed as the man behind him let out a snarl and shot down his hand, the claws scraping along the metal. Ducking low as the man reached out to claw him; Brady stuck out a foot and tripped the man before kicking him in the shin so that he fell into the wall opposing him.

"I'm going to get you, you brat!" The man growled, getting up to his knees.

"Not if you can't catch me!" Brady shot back, racing down the stairs as quickly as he could. Rounding the landing of the stairs, he started down another flight when the man leapt from above; landing not he steps in front of him in a couch. "What's your name? What do you want with my Mom?"

"They call me Bronze Tiger," he said. "And she's our ticket to taking over this city." Spinning on his heel, he aimed a kick towards Brady's head but the young boy quickly ducked out of the way. Grabbing onto the railing beside him, Brady brought himself up and swung his feet forward, kicking Bronze Tiger in the side before he dropped back down to his feet and shot his right foot upwards and kicked him between the legs. That didn't appear to have any effect on the tall man for he continued his momentum around. Brady then leaned to the side, grabbing onto to the railing and swung his legs over it, sliding down the rail to the bottom landing as Bronze Tiger swung his arm around and slashed down with his claws. The claws went right through the railing where Brady's head was seconds before he continued sliding down the railing.

Once his feet reached the ground, Brady raced down the rest of the stairs and blasted through the door, out into the alleyway beside him. He ran back down the alley before taking a right turn, running the long way around the run down building next door and heading out onto the street. Trying to catch his breath, he looked back and forth across the street before hurrying across and continuing to run.

He continued to run, breezing through the run down parts of the city, noticing that the buildings continued to increase in quality as he ran through the city until he reached the Central City Plaza. There he skidded to a stop and twisted around in a few circles, frowning. He remembered it for the most part, having gone through there numerous times when walking to and from the workout center that his mother taught Zumba classes in. Still, what was the best option for him to get out of the area if Bronze Tiger were still following him? There wasn't anyone around that was going to help him; no one had even seemed to notice he was out there on his own being chased by a madman.

Get to STAR Labs. Brady raced across the street, ignoring the honking of cars that came from all sides and hurried over to the bus stop when he saw a bus waiting to pick up passengers. Brady quickly climbed onto the bus and fished around in his pocket for some change.

"Does this bus go to STAR Labs?" He asked the driver as she pulled away from the curb.

The bus driver looked at him as if he were crazy. "No buses go to STAR Labs! That place had been condemned ever since the particle accelerator explosion. Why in the world would you want to go there? And why are you out here so late? Don't your parents know where you are?"

"Yes, I'm meeting my Mom there," Brady lied. "Can you take me to the closest bus stop to STAR Labs? Please?"

The bus driver alternatively looked back and forth from the road to Brady before she nodded and motioned for him to take a seat. Brady smiled before dropping down into a window seat and watched as Central City whizzed by. He was so engrossed in watching for Bronze Tiger that he didn't notice the bus driver's eyes steadily on him as she continued along her route and dropped off passengers, picking up others as she went along. Finally, she reached the stop that was the closest to STAR Labs and Brady hurried off before she could stop him.

And as he continued to run down the street, the bus driver pulled away from the curb before taking her walkie-talkie and calling the police.

Brady slowed to a stop outside of STAR Labs, eyes shifting as he tried to remember how to get inside. Most other times his mother would have teleported them inside, once they had followed Barry, but now he wasn't sure. Chewing his lower lip, he slid through a hole in the fence that surrounded the building before walking inside the condemned area. Tilting his head back, he looked up and studied the holes and blast sites that the explosion of the Particle Accelerator had created.

He remembered that day only that he was awakened by a loud explosion sound and scrambled to his knees on the bed, pulling back the curtain and looking out the window. He had watched in awe as the pillar of light shone straight up into the sky, illuminating the area around them. Then there was another loud sound and the lights had suddenly gone off in the apartment simultaneous with a feeling that he had just been punched in the stomach. He was sitting back on the bed when Cadence had come through the door of the bedroom and climbed onto the bed next to him.

"What was that, Momma?" He asked her.

"I have no idea." Kneeling, Cadence looked out the window as well, watching as the light started to fade. Sirens from the city wailed in the distance, some closer than others, coming from the cars that were parked around the apartment. But there hadn't appeared to be any sort of danger coming towards them. "But it was pretty loud, huh?"

"Yeah."

Cadence smiled and rolled off the bed. "Go back to sleep, bud. I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Okay," Brady replied and slid back into the bed, pulling the covers up over his shoulder.

How was he to know that it was what would bring him and his mother into something as big as this. He always knew that his mother was special due to the powers she had, but to know there were others that could do the same, he didn't believe would ever happen. And now here he was, trying to break into STAR Labs so that the Flash could be saved. Brady finally found an open door and slipped inside, making his way to the main floor of the building. He raced into the room, causing Dr. Wells, Caitlin, Diggle, Roy, Felicity, and Oliver to turn towards him, looking at him in confusion.

"Brady, is everything alright?" Caitlin asked.

"They have my Mom!" He blurted out. "And Barry! They broke into my apartment and took them!"

Everyone would've done the same, he reasoned. If they were given the utmost chance to help the people they cared about. Who wouldn't want to take it? Nevertheless, he listened as Mr. McCormick added.

"Okay, so say everyone who's a metahuman has that ability? Why aren't they able to use their powers to do so? Why do we have to make sure that everyone in Central City is a human? Are humans the better species?"

Hands immediately shot into the air.

"Metahumans are the ones that make it so that everyone we love is in danger," Derek said, with the emphatic nod of Rachel at his side. "If the Particle Accelerator never blew up, we never would've had the metahumans, and then we wouldn't have to worry every time we stepped out the front door."

"It's not just metahumans that are the problem," Mr. McCormack pointed out. "Just being real here. There were problems in this city long before metahumans came around. There was always the chance of you being held at gunpoint the second you opened your front door. You'd never know, because the crime rate was so high. If you pay attention to the news, you'd know that our crime rate has actually gone down since Flash and Flare arrived in Central City."

Rachel shook her head. "But they're still the ones who are causing the most damage."

"That's not true!" Leah protested. "Everyone that's been working with the Flash has been helping out the city." She turned to Mr. McCormack. "Right? That's what you just said."

"You need to get your hearing checked, loser," Rachel sneered. "He said the crime rate was lowered, not that they're not causing the most damage to the city." She waved a hand. "Look what they did with that missile launch. They killed hundreds of people."

"It was one hundred people," Brady snapped back, feeling his body temperature spike the second Rachel started to talk. He whirled around in his seat to face her. "Hundreds of thousands of people that would've died in this city. You might've died too, if they didn't direct it out into the forest."

"Okay, okay." Mr. McCormick brought up his hands and rubbed his forehead. "Let me ask another question. You guys are all willing to try and help your family and friends if you had any means to do it. But some people here, they still don't like the idea of the metahumans." He paused. "What if some of your classmates were metahumans."

All at once, Brady and Leah stiffened. He could see her fingertips tighten on her pen. To his left, Conner sucked in a sharp breath. There was a few seconds of stunned silence as the students tried to figure out how to respond to the question.

All the yelling started at once.

"If anyone is a metahuman, they need to be taken care of."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"They all need to be put in Iron Heights until it's sure that they're not a danger to us."

"Iron Heights isn't exactly the best place for metahumans to go. They treat them terribly there!"

"Duh, it's a prison!"

"It's supposed to be a prison for humans."

"They are humans, it's in the name 'metahuman'."

"So you admit they're human then?"

Brady shouted along with the rest of them, trying to get his opinion in edge-wise until Connor grabbed his arm and turned his attention toward him. "What?" Brady groused, growling through gritted teeth.

Connor glared back at him. "Do you want these guys to know you're a meta? Or that we're trying to those that are?" Brady stared. "Because the more you try to defend metahumans, the easier it's going to be for them to put two and two together. Especially because your mom and Barry both work closely with STAR Labs and that's where the Particle Accelerator blew." Brady opened his mouth to respond then stopped when Conner tightened his grasp on Brady's wrist. "If you want that, go ahead. If you think you can handle it. If not, then you need to shut up."

"Fine."

Brady pushed Conner's hand off his wrist and sat up straight, pressing his lips together as hard as he could. Waited for the class to end. When the bell finally rang, he grabbed his books, shoved them into his backpack, and stormed out of the room with Connor and Leah moving to catch up to him.

"If you keep acting like that, they're going to find out sooner than you think," Connor pointed out.

"I know." Brady sucked in a deep breath between his teeth. "It just…" he turned to face his best friends. "It just sucks. Because I wanted this, I wanted to be a meta since I knew my mom had powers, but…" he gestured with his hands. "I can't stand listening to everyone else do this on a daily basis. Especially with all this stuff with Lex Luthor going on? It's bullshit!"

Connor's and Leah's eyes widened in surprise.

"Whoa," Leah murmured.

"Okay," Connor said slowly. "I get you're mad—"

"—This is all Barry's fault, anyway," Brady continued.

Leah snorted. "How do you figure that?"

"If he hadn't had created Flashpoint none of this would've happened."

"You don't know that," Connor said. "There are, about, five hundred things that could've happened had Barry not created Flashpoint." He started to count on his fingers. "The Assassination Bureau may still be around. Savitar wouldn't have been created."

"Your mom wouldn't have died," Brady broke in. Connor's eyes blanked over with pain. He opened his mouth, closed it, shook his head and turned away. Leah frowned and punched Brady hard on the shoulder. "Ow!" He was sure she'd used her powers to make it a harder hit.

"Stop being such a jerk, Brady," Leah snapped. "Every time we have this debate in class, you become the biggest brat."

Brady frowned, an image of Deity suddenly appearing in his head. The same accusations had been said to her, and, if he remembered correctly, he'd been the one to say it.

Right.

They argued over who had the better mom—an schoolyard argument they still hadn't been able to come to a definitive conclusion over, biases aside—and argued over Deity's treatment of running away from home, staying with him and Cadence, and how she was treating Kara and…well, part of him kind of wanted to impress her in a way. In that stupid school yard way that his mother sometimes still teased him about. (She still made fun of him for his logic on how he thought a chest of drawers was called a Chester Drawer and only people named Chester could use it).

"Cause, I hate to break it to you, but there are many ways that your mom might be dead right now if it weren't for Barry."

Brady felt himself starting to calm down. Suddenly felt very tired, as if all that anger managed to take him over. He yawned, reaching up to rub at his eyes. Then he turned to Connor, who continued to look away from him, the haunted look still in his eyes.

"I'm—"

"—You don't have to say it," Connor interrupted. He blinked once then the pain was gone from his eyes. "I know how easily you could be in the same position. I'd be as mad as you are. I am as mad as you are. But getting mad like this, all the time, isn't going to help you."

"I don't want to be mad. It's just that these people are being so stupid about metahumans."

"Are you sure that's it?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That I'm worried about you."

Connor started to say something else but stopped when he was shoved hard on the shoulder, knocked into the locker beside him. Brady and Leah jumped at the clanging sound and turned to find Derek standing behind him. Leah sucked in a sharp breath through her nose, she already targeted by Rachel on daily, having to deal with Derek as well was even worse.

"Watch where you're going, faggot," Derek snapped. He jerked his head toward Connor. "'May as well get rid of him along with the rest of the metas."

"You sure there's not something you're trying to hide?" Brady shot back. "Considering how much you've been taunting him for it?" He watched passively as Derek turned his wrath onto him. Grabbing his shoulders and shoving him hard into the locker behind him but not letting go. "You're kind of proving my point here."

Suddenly, all the wind was knocked out of him as he was struck directly in the diaphragm, his breath escaping him in one fell swing. He fell to his knees, coughing, struggling to get his breath back. Derek leaned down to his ear. "If you're smart, you'd stay down."

"Hey!" Alicia went over and grabbed Derek's arm, wrenching him up. "Leave him alone, Derek. He's not worthy our time."

"Come on, Leesh." Rachel put her arm around Alicia's shoulders. "Let him have a little fun. It's so boring around here without goofing on them a little bit." Alicia pushed Rachel's arm off her shoulders. "What's your problem?"

"Leave him alone," Alicia repeated. She hitched her purse up her shoulder and rolled her eyes. "It, like, just gets boring, you know?" She waved a hand in the air. "Like, figure it out yourselves. I'm out. My dad's taking me out to lunch. Maybe you'll find something else interesting to talk about when I get back."

She walked down the hallway toward the ay. Rachel and Derek exchanged glances, scared glances if Brady could tell from where he knelt on the floor, and hurried after her.

"Are you okay?" Leah grabbed Brady's shoulder and heaved him to his feet with ease.

"I'm fine," Brady murmured. He pressed a hand to his stomach before standing. "I hate those guys, though."

Connor shrugged. "At least you have us." Brady snorted at the cheesiness of the comment and punched Connor on the arm. Connor grinned back. "No offense, dude, but my girlfriend punches harder than you." He took Leah's hand and led the two down the hallway toward the cafeteria. Brady rolled his eyes and followed them, ignoring the raspberry Leah blew toward him as they went.

They got into the food line, filled their trays, and sat down at a table in the furthest corner so that they could talk among themselves. "Can we talk about anything else, please?" Brady asked.

"How's training with Black Blade going?" Leah asked, changing the subject.

"It's not. He's just suddenly dropped off the face of the Earth. Not that my mom would've been too happy to know I was working with him. But I need someone now that everyone knows Oliver is the Green Arrow. It would've been too easy to be linked back to Barry and Uncle Cisco and the others if I was still working with him."

"But you've been training with your mom," Connor pointed out. "Haven't you all been doing training sessions every day?"

"Yeah. But Miss. Cadence almost never faces off against Brady," Leah said. She bobbed her head to the side, blonde hair falling out of her face. Her brown eyes shifted back and forth. "Every other time he's been fighting against me or Cisco or Wally or whomever is projected through simulation. When we're not being trained on being aware of our surroundings and everything."

"Well. If I had powers and my mom had powers, I wouldn't want to fight her either," Connor said.

Brady smiled, but it didn't make him feel better. He'd faced against his mother before, when she was under the control of the Dominators, and nearly died. All because it was hard for him to fight back against her fire power, but eventually had to. Her power, especially when not holding back, had been much stronger than his, and while he had gotten some good hits in, it scared him to know how much damage she could do without thought.

It was no wonder Breathtaker had taken her in. Still, he did wonder, if what Black Blade said was true, what was it about him that was supposed to have helped taken down Breathtaker. And what it means for what my powers can ultimately be. And why did Breathtaker show me what he really looked like if it didn't mean anything? Make me relive everything when I was with the Assassination Bureau?

"She probably just doesn't want to hurt you," Connor added.

"I know, but if mom and Barry can put that aside, then how come she can't do that with me?"

''Um." Connor gave him a 'duh' look, pulling out his phone to scroll through hit. "Because you're her only son and, I don't know, I think she'd miss you if you were gone. Plus, how's she going to explain her only son being dead if people asked."

Brady shot him a 'duh' look in response. "I don't think she'd try to kill me, but okay." He paused. "For accidentally setting the curtains on fire, maybe, but not for training purposes. What?" He saw Connor's face ashen.

"You might want to get going," Connor said. He stood up, leaning the cell phone over the table so all three of them could see. "We've got a car going out of control a few streets away. 120 swerving between lanes. Someone's going to get killed." He turned the cell phone towards himself, brought up an app and program Brady had never seen before and, within seconds, grainy CCTV footage showed a police cruiser racing down the side-streets. "Something tells me that's not a coincidence."

Brady twisted his mouth to the side, felt his blood pressure rise. "You'd think she'd be able to go out to lunch without getting in some trouble."

"You have to go," Leah insisted.

Brady started to get up from the table. "I know," he replied. "Is it just the one car?"

"Just the one."

"It's pretty close, Leah, you should come with me."

She put a quick veto on that, though look disappointed to do so. "With my powers I'll turn that car into a brick wall, it crashes into anything, they're done. And if I make it lighter, I might fling them all the way to Star City." She looked around the cafeteria, hoping no eyes were on them. "You have to go. Now! We'll cover for you."

"What else is new?"

Brady got up from his seat and hurried out of the cafeteria. Rounding the corner, he yelped, crashing directly into Rose. She held her ground while Brady stumbled back, trying to keep his footing. "Sorry, Rose, I didn't see you there."

Rose merely smiled back, brushing her long braided pigtails behind her shoulders. "Leaving us so soon?" She asked. "Seems like every day you've got some sort of crisis to attend. Let me guess, Derek threatened to beat you up again?"

"Derek couldn't beat me up, no matter how hard he tried," Brady said. Then suddenly felt the need to add, "He caught me off-guard."

"Like I did?"

He blinked. "Y-yeah."

"I didn't mean to scare you."

Then, he suddenly became defensive. "I don't," he said. "I don't scare easily. I've seen a lot scarier things than you." His eyes shifted behind her. "I mean, uh, not that you're scary. I mean, I already said that."

"You already said that," Rose agreed. She laughed quietly then stepped aside, holding out her arm. The other held a sketchbook under her arm that was marred with fingerprints of charcoal and paint. "I'll let you go. Just try not to get into too much trouble." She flashed a smile over her shoulder as she walked away from him.

Brady looked after her, face screwing up in confusion, before he went to the only place he knew there weren't cameras. And had an even better chance of not being seen. Nevertheless, Brady looked around to be sure no one was in the boys' bathroom before he brought up his wrist and slammed his hand atop the housing unit of the 'watch' that housed his suit. Within seconds he was dressed in his suit and phased through the floor of the bathroom, moved through the ground and headed in the direction of the speeding car, phasing through the air as he did so.

"Hey, it's Brady, I'm on my way to the car," said into his Comm. Link. "I don't know for sure, but I think Alicia and Chief Paulson are inside." He looked down, seeing a flash of lightning streak below him. He pressed his lips together, seeing Barry race ahead of him. Now wasn't the time to say the first thing that came to mind.

"I'm almost there," Barry added.

"Okay guys, it's a runaway," Cadence's voice came over the Comm. Link. "Driver's trapped inside. According to CCTV footage, it is Chief Paulson and Alicia inside. Our thoughts aside, I don't think the city will react very well if we let anything happen to them."

"Got it," Barry said. "I'm gonna change his trajectory."

"Turn him left," Cadence explained. Brady nodded and started to do a hard bank to the left to follow the path of the car. "There's a turn off for runaway trucks coming up. Clear a path and the car will come to a safe stop."

"Nah, I'll push him right," Barry quickly replied. Brady screeched to a halt, nearly colliding with a wayward bird as he did so, watching as Barry quickly surrounded the car, turning its trajectory to the right side of the T intersection. "The street's empty. I can help him there!"

At once, Brady winced, feeling his shoulders hunch up when he heard his mother bark. "You can't do that!" He immediately banked to the right, moving closer toward the car with the tailwind that moved in his direction, spurning him to move forward even faster.

Below him, Brady saw Barry screech to a stop, pressing his hand son his knees to look at his handiwork. But upon hearing his fiancé's response, he brought hand up to his ear, giving Brady the chance to keep following after the car.

"What? Why?"

"They started construction on that street three months ago!"

"Oh…"

"I got this." Brady whipped out his Shadow Shot and placed his yo-yo inside as the ammunition. He pulled his arm back, tightening all the muscles up an down his arm as he was instructed to do. Aimed it toward a nearby lightpole, then sent it forward. His yo-yo shot out and, with the string trailing, wrapped around the light pole. Brady held onto the other end and used the retracting end to shoot himself forward at top speed.

Brady flung through the air, sling-shotted around the light pole and raced toward the back of the car. Phasing at the last second, Brady landed in the back seat and leaned toward Chief Paulson and Alicia, who were screaming at the tops of their lungs, eyes wide in terror.

"So, are you guys ready to go?" Brady asked, peering at them from behind the grate.

Chief Paulson jumped, glanced over his shoulder hearing Brady's voice behind him. His eyes narrowed int slits when he noticed the metahuman sitting in the backseat of his car. "Get away from me!" He declared. "I can handle this myself!" He turned back to the front, frantically twisting and turning his steering wheel, breaking into a sweat as he did so.

The engine of the car roared loudly as it swept forward. Brady frowned, hearing Alicia's continued screeching to fill the air. He turned to the front, frowning when he saw a strange purple and gray code swirling across the front of the touch screen that'd house the GPS feature and satellite stations.

"Sure, if you want to handle being crushed against that concrete wall," Brady said. He reached for them again, grunting beneath his breath when Chief Paulson pulled away from him once more. "Okay, it's your funeral." He reached out, phasing through the and grabbed Alicia's shoulder. "Gah!" She turned and immediately pressed her face into his neck, looping her arms around his neck so tightly it cut off his air flow as she nearly climbed him like a tree. "Okay, then."

Brady phased them from the car and brought them a safe distance away from the car. Alicia tightened her grasp on Brady's wrist. "Please, you have to help my dad!" Brady pointed at the lightning that shot by him, stopping only at the nearby mechanic shop within the time it took Brady to blink. "I think Flash has that covered," he replied, pointing. Even though he made this mess in the first place.

True to his word, Barry raced in circles around the police cruiser, taking off bits and pieces of the car. The body of the car and tires went flying aside as the seconds passed until the car screeched to a stop with Chief Paulson in the seat. By the time Barry finished, Chief Paulson's car, which now resembled a go-kart rather than the cruiser, gently bumped against the concrete barrier that blocked the end of the street.

Barry skidded to a stop, placing his hands on his knees, working to catch his breath. He stood and spun the wrench in his hand, watching as Chief Paulson slowly lowered his hands from the steering wheel, allowing the chance to glare at Barry between his deep breaths, face as red as the light that had previously been on the top of his cruiser. Barry wiggled the wrench back and forth.

"You're welcome!" He called, lifting his hand.

Alicia released herself from Brady's grasp and raced to her father, falling to her knees next to him and throwing her arms around his neck.

"Nice job you guys," Cadence said after a second. "Looks like we don't have too much about this save. Chief Paulson would rather die than thank any of the metas that'd helped him. It'll keep him off our tail for a while."

Cisco sighed heavily, his breath filling the Comm-Links with static before he said, "I know a guy almost died but what happened to this mans' cruiser is the real tragedy here." Brady could practically see Cisco plant his hands on his hips and shake his head. "That was a fine ass car for a police chief."

"That could've been a lot worse," Wally said.

Don't remind me, Brady thought, shaking his head. He watched as Chief Paulson turned and wrapped his arms around Alicia, gently stroking her hair as he tried to calm her down. He tilted his head, watching the stoic expression on Chief Paulson's face. He patted Alicia's back twice, all but pushing her away from him. She continued to kneel by his side, eyeing him as he faced front and ran his hands over his face once more.

Let out a long, hard, breath.

Drew an arm across his forehead.

Did everything but broke down from being Chief Paulson to be her dad.

Brady had no idea how he could do that. And suddenly felt a huge surge of appreciation for what his mother did every day. He brought a hand up to his ear, pressed it into his Comm. Link. "Have I ever told you that I really appreciate everything you do for me?"

"If I had a dime for every time you've told me that, I'd have a dime," Cadence joked. Brady smiled. "Go back to school. And if I the principal calls me, I'm going to kick your butt."

Brady's smile widened and he did as he was told.


Barry raced into the Cortex, stripped his suit off onto the mannequin to be cleaned later, changed into his clothes, and skidded to a stop in the middle of the Cortex. Wally, Cisco, and Cadence all stared at him as he threw his arms out to keep himself from falling over. "Hey, I'm sorry guys," Barry said quickly holding up his hands defensively. "The car…that…that whole thing…this one's on me." He walked to the computer desk, resting his hands against it so stretch his lower back. "I checked in on Chief Paulson. He's fine. Alicia is fine, but she's going to be pulled out of school for the rest of the day. Her mom is going to pick her up from the station."

"That's good," Cisco said, chin resting in his hands. He turned his gaze back to the computer screen in front of him. "Knowing that she's fine will do wonders to make it so that I can crack this computer code!" He gritted his teeth before reaching into his candy drawer to pull out a handful of Twizzlers. "This stupid computer code!" He chomped off the end of a Twizzler and chewed madly.

"Well, if it helps…" Barry rummaged through the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a tiny USB. He wiggled it back and forth in front of Cisco's face. "I downloaded the code Brady was saying he saw in the car, I thought it might help."

Wally hummed to himself, watching as Cisco wordlessly held out his hand and allowed Barry to slap the USB into his palm. "First the elevator and now a police cruiser." He looked Barry in the eye. "You think we have to worry about this guy targeting the CCPD, whoever he is?"

Barry's face screwed up in thought. After a second, he shook his head. "Nah, there's not really any connection with the CCPD through this. I even thought, maybe, its their power? Kurt is—was—worth billions and Chief Paulson basically runs the city."

"Not unless Kurt and Chief Paulson were, like, drinking buddies or something," Cadence pointed out. She sat in one of the chairs, knees pulled up to her chest, an intense expression of concentration on her face. "Kurt was fairly young and Chief Paulson isn't." She shook her head. "The stress certainly doesn't let him look it, anyway."

"Well, as we've always found, there has to be a connection somewhere," Wally said. He turned to Cadence. "I don't have any classes for the rest of the afternoon, I can take a look around to see if anything else comes up. Maybe see if we can find a connection rather than force one."

"That could really help," Barry said with an eager nod. "The sooner we can figure this out, the safer everything will be. Things like this…" he stood, crossing his arms. "I don't know, it might cause a massive recall or something. More answers is progress." He waited for the tell-tale whoosh that meant Wally raced from the room, but it didn't come.

Instead, Wally looked to Barry, lowered his chin, and bit his lower lip. He looked at Cadence out the corner of his eye and waited. Cadence tapped her fingers against her lips before shaking her head. "No, I don't want you running off on a wild goose chase if we don't have an idea of what direction we're headed in." Wally nodded, his shoulders slumping ever so slightly. She gave him a kind smile. "I know you're ready to get back out there, especially since your leg's healed since the Samuroid stabbed you, but you'll get your chance. I just don't want you to waste your time on something we don't know for sure. In the meantime, keep improving yourself with the training we've been working on and you'll be fine."

"Okay, cool." Wally stepped back, lifting his chin. He looked from Barry to Cadence and back. "Well, I'm going to the Speed Lab to work on some of that training, alright?" He didn't wait for a response and ran.

Silence stretched through the Cortex before Cisco's low chuckling filled the void. "Awk-ward," he sing-songed under his breath. Then started to cough. He slapped himself hard on the sternum until his coughing subsided. "Wow, that's the fastest I've been hit with karma."

Barry pinched the bridge of his nose. "Cisco…"

"Mm!" Cisco's eyes widened. He leaned close to his computer screen. "That's the weird code from the elevator murder scene. The same stuff in Chief Paulson's car." He looked to Cadence, who got up from her seat and moved to Cisco's side at the same time Barry founded the computer desk to stand on the other side.

A barrier between them, Barry noted.

"So there is a connection there," Cadence murmured. Her face screwed up. "What connection would Chief Paulson have with this guy?"

"Weaver…Weaver…" Cisco hummed to himself. "And he's in tech?" He started to rub his forehead. "Why does that name sound so familiar? Maybe from some tech magazines or something? I'm 90% sure I heard that name in one of the ones I collected in high school."

Cadence lifted an eyebrow. "Those are the magazines you collected in high school?" she teased.

Cisco glared at her, before pointedly turning his back to her. "Hey, we couldn't all be high school royalty Miss. Two-time Prom Queen."

"It was once," Cadence said. "I didn't have my senior prom, remember?" She tapped Cisco on the head. "Let us know if you find anything out, especially about this virus. Can you reverse-search it?" He waved a hand at her, shooing her away. "Okay, I'll leave you to it."

"Are you going back to work?" Barry asked, suddenly feeling there was nothing left to do in the Cortex. He fell in step with Cadence as she headed toward the elevator.

"I was going to get something to eat first," she said. "Still on my lunch break."

"Do you want to eat together then? I have some time before I need to get back, too. Just waiting on some more witnesses to come forward for the case from this morning. And now with Chief Paulson. He's probably going to be spending the rest of the day in his office."

"Sure." Cadence shrugged, stepped into the elevator. She pressed the button that fed it down to the lobby. "It'd give us some time to talk."

Barry felt his heart drop. That was never a conversation anyone enjoyed having. At least it'll release some of the tension, he thought, rubbing the back of his neck. "About what happened? With the whole Chief Paulson thing?" He started to speak quickly. "Look, I'm sorry I should've listened to you. It's just that when I'm out there, sometimes things move so fast." She gave him a look. "But you get that. I know you do. You had to take care of the city while I was gone. I guess I'm just excited to be the Flash again! It's so different, than being in the Speed Force for so long! There wasn't really a sense of time or anything to show what was going on, and it was like the Flash didn't even exist!"

"Speak for yourself," Savitar murmured, standing off to Barry's right, leaning against the corner of the elevator. Barry ignored him. The doors to the elevator opened and the two left STAR Labs, squeezing through the opening in the chain link fence that separated it from the rest of the sidewalk.

"Anyway, I just really needed to get in there and get my hands dirty, you know?" Barry continued. He lifted his hands, looking at the small smudges of grease that stuck to his fingers, having bled through the material of his suit. "I hope you're not mad." They came to a crosswalk behind a young couple that stood holding hands, waiting for the light to change. Cadence turned to him, lifting an eyebrow. "And you are." He nodded. "You're mad, aren't you?"

"Not yet," Cadence replied. "Get someone killed and then I may be a little bit mad." She looked over her shoulder as the couple looked at them funny. "Metaphorically, speaking," she added quickly. He nodded. "I get you wanting to rush back into things, but things aren't the same, you know? We've been through a lot."

"'Yeah, no, I know, but…" Barry tilted his head, trying to catch her eye. "We can try to get things back to where they were."

"I don't know," the woman of the young couple spoke up. She nodded toward her boyfriend. "She's kind of right; the more things change, the harder they are to stay the same." Barry made a face and was relieved when he saw Cadence was making the same one. Stuck between being confused and between having to go along with whatever lie they had to perpetuate for the public. (Not to mention, he was sure that wasn't how the saying went).

"You left," the man said. "Break ups are hard, man." He nodded in understanding. "But if you're willing to give it another chance, it just means the trust has to be mended again, right?"

Barry and Cadence exchanged glances once more.

"Uh…" Barry started to say, but couldn't find the words to help the situation. He caught Cadence's eye once more, saw the light that flickered in them, and the twitching of her lips, knowing she was about to start laughing.

He smiled, feeling the mirth bubbling up in his chest.

In the split second of silence, the grin stretching across Barry's face, there was a gunshot. For a moment, everything around him slowed in response to his flinching at the sound. To his warning of probably danger.

He saw everything.

Saw how Cadence's eyes widened in surprise, saw all her muscles tense one by one, saw the tendrils of smoke that started to form, signaling she was about to teleport. Then Barry's eyes shifted back towards the couple and widened even further when he saw the look of absolute horror growing on the woman's face and the pain on the man's.

Saw the blood start to spray into the air from a bullet wound that formed on the left side of his head. An entrance wound. As the long seconds stretched out, Barry saw the exit wound form, a bloody, pulpy mess created from the exploding side of the head. Bone fragments and gray matter spurted through the exit wound, splattering over the concrete and, simultaneously, the front of Barry's suit.

Blood flowed freely from the man's mouth like a fountain, hands agonizingly slow to grasp the side of his head, the tiny bullet stretching to freedom from the man's skull.

Barry saw it all in seconds before everything sped up again and he ran. The woman screamed as she turned, shielding her face. The man's life snuffed out the moment the bullet carved a path through his skull and brain, sending bone fragments deep into the gray matter, and out into the air.

Cadence teleported, Barry ran, and they left the innocent bystanders behind.

It didn't occur to Barry until he stopped, far away from the site, that he referred to them as innocent bystanders. As it pushed forward the thought, that he and Cadence were the target of the shooting.

If that were the case, who was trying to hurt them enough to take out anyone who may've been standing idly by.

More importantly, what happened to Central City while he was gone?


A/N: And here's that extra-long chapter for you all., about double the length of what I've done with previous chapters of the story. You get a little more insight into Brady, though with the next few you'll really get an idea of what's going on with him. Thank you for being so patient as I worked on this one down to the wire.

I've got something really cool coming up that I can't wait for you to see. I dropped a lot of little hints as to what's to come within this chapter, let's see if you can find it.

Cheers,

-Riles

Review Replies

DarkHelm145: Oh yeah, that really was an intense convo. And Maya's just fine, Barry really needs to learn how to phrase conversations to not scare people, lol. I'm glad you liked what I was doing with Frankie and Cadence's tie into it, it's actually something I wished I was able to show more within the last story, but I also think it works better that we see little ties into it in this story and have it all leak together as things move forward.

Ethan: Already answered on Twitter, but yes, they're just knocked out. This isn't something that's gone completely, it's going to be coming back as, as you know, I don't really bring up things unless they're important enough to show up later. (Though, sometimes in writing things are meant to only be mentioned once or twice).